Richard Cohn

David Bard-Schwarz

Arguably one of the most influential and revered figures in contemporary music theory, David Lewin (1933-2003) revolutionized the field through his work on transformational theory and theoretical methodology. David Lewin's Morgengruß: Text, Context, Commentary presents in print for the first time Lewin's legendary 1974 essay on Franz Schubert's "Morgengruß," from the composer's song cycle, Die Schöne Müllerin. The essay was central to Lewin's graduate teaching, and copies of it have circulated by hand through the music-scholarly community for decades. This book presents the original text of Lewin's essay along with over 200 graphical illustrations. Lewin's ability to present an artful and rich argument, based on a close reading of a short, "simple" score is but one of the wonders to behold in his masterful essay. At once deeply nuanced and widely accessible, Lewin's "Morgengruß" offers insight into Schubert's composition as well as the analytical process itself. Along with the full text of Lewin's essay, this book includes a small but pointed collection of essays interpreting the content and significance of Lewin's "Morgengruß." Drawing on current research as well as personal reflection, editors Richard Cohn and David Bard-Schwarz, along with contributors Brian Kane and Henry Klumpenhouwer, elaborate on the analytical, pedagogical, and philosophical contexts of Lewin's work. Taken together, the editors and contributors offer a compelling account of the enduring significance of Lewin's writing. David Lewin's Morgengruß is a must-have for anyone with an interest in Lewin's career, Schubert's music, or music theory generally.

Text, Context, Commentary

David Lewin's Morgengruß

Electronic art offers endless opportunities for reflection and interpretation. Works can be interactive or entirely autonomous and the viewer's perception and reaction to them may be challenged by constantly transforming images. Whether the transformations are a product of the appearances or actions of a viewer in an installation space, or a product of a self-contained computer program, is a source of constant fascination. Some viewers may feel strange or unnerved by a work, while others may feel welcoming, humorous, and playful emotions. The art may also provoke a critical response to social, aesthetic, and political aspects of early twenty-first-century life. This book approaches electronic art through the teachings of Jacques Lacan, whose return to Freud has exerted a powerful and wide-ranging influence on psychoanalysis and critical theory in the twentieth century. David Bard-Schwarz draws on his experience with Lacanian psychoanalysis, music, and interactive and traditional arts in order to address aspects of the works the viewer may find difficult to understand. Dividing his approach over four thematic chapters—Bodies, Voices, Eyes, and Signifiers—Bard-Schwarz explores the links between works of new media and psychoanalysis (how we process what we see, hear, touch, imagine, and remember). This is a fascinating book for new media artists and critics, museum curators, psychologists, students in the fine arts, and those who are interested in digital technology and contemporary culture.

David Bard-Schwarz

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